Our Impact
We change the lives of Queensland women and their children every day.
Our Impact
We change the lives of Queensland women and their children every day.
Since 1885, The Lady Musgrave Trust has provided practical solutions that save lives and transition women-at-risk to a life of prosperity.
Our approach achieves significant outcomes for young women and their children who are escaping domestic and family violence by providing them with somewhere safe to live and support for them to get ahead.
We focus on the outcomes of stable and safe housing, as well as increased engagement with employment, education opportunities and support services. These outcomes are known to increase wellbeing and self-efficacy, which in turn empowers people to be active members of their community.
Our results-focused program is supported by research, evidence and data.
Our goal is for every tenant to successfully transition to a private sector rental.
We are grateful to the generous community of organisations who work in this space. Their commitment to ensuring Queensland is safe for all women is humbling. We acknowledge their work to increase awareness and advocate for change, and we are proud to walk beside them.
Our value to women experiencing homelessness
8000+ Available Bed Nights
for young women and their children
11 Accommodation Units
available to support young women in need
22,000+ copies of The Handy Guide
distributed to individuals across Queensland
400+ organisations using The Handy Guide
across Queensland, including hospitals, prisons, homelessness sector, government, and not-for-profits
Connecting women to 2,500+ services
including accommodation, healthcare, support agencies, public spaces, and more
$30,000+ rent payments subsidised
for women and children, including forgone rents and donated expenses costs
For detailed information about how The Lady Musgrave Trust supports women in need, see our latest Annual Report:
The Need
The Queensland community needs to join together to develop solutions to address homelessness associated with domestic and family violence.
- Someone you know has experienced domestic and family violence. One in six Australian women have experienced violence by a family member.
- Family and domestic violence is the primary reason women and children seek specialist homelessness services, but only 3.2% are currently receiving the long-term housing solutions they need.
- 53,974 (44.1%) of homeless people in Australia are female, an increase of 10.1% from 2016, with females accounted for 81.7% of the 6,067 increase of people experiencing homelessness in 2021.
- This can and does happen to any woman. At the time of the ABS survey in 2016, of the 275,000 women who experienced violence by their current partner, 165,100 (60%) were employed.
- The number of women who experience family and domestic violence and require specialist homeless services continues to increase year on year.
- Approximately 9,120 women per year are becoming homeless after leaving their homes due to domestic and family violence and being unable to secure long-term housing.
- Based on pre-pandemic incidence of domestic and family violence each year, approximately 7,690 women a year are returning to perpetrators due to having nowhere affordable to live.
- In the 2021-22 financial year the Queensland Police Service responded to 138,871 domestic and family violence occurrences in Queensland.
The Benefits of Action
Improved housing opportunities for women experiencing domestic and family violence will have innumerable community and economic benefits, including:
- For every $1 the community spends on social and affordable housing and support, it will return benefits of $2 to the community
- Improved community diversity, inclusion and equity
- Enhanced human capital and education outcomes
- Increased productivity
- Increased community diversity, inclusion and equity
- The overall benefits of providing adequate housing are estimated at $110 billion in present value terms
Importantly, you will also potentially help a woman in your circle who you don’t even know is experiencing domestic and family violence, and needs help to navigate her options.
The Cost of Inaction
Our community needs to raise our commitment to ensuring that affordable housing is available to all as a basic human right.
Failure to act to solve homelessness will cost the Australian community $25 Billion per year by 2051.
Increased unstable housing costs impacts on companies/businesses’ ability to find, train and retain staff.
The costs to society of housing instability include:
- Entrenched inter-generational disadvantage
- Domestic and family violence, costs and suffering associated with crime
- Wasted opportunity costs associated with underutilised human capital
- Lack of education benefits
- Under-realised labour market productivity